1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a panel, a covering formed of such panels, and a method for installing such panels.
Primarily, the invention relates to floor panels, more particularly decorative floor panels for forming a floor covering, however, it is not excluded to apply the invention with other forms of coverings, for example, as wall panels, ceiling panels and the like.
The invention relates in particular to panels consisting of supple synthetic material, more particularly panels consisting of soft PVC (polyvinyl chloride), also called vinyl tiles or vinyl strips. Often, also the abbreviation LVT is used for such tiles, which stands for Luxurious Vinyl Tile. Herein, this then relates particularly to vinyl tiles with a full core, said core whether or not being composed of layers and substantially consisting of a material on the basis of PVC, amongst which recycled or un-recycled PVC.
2. Related Art
Panels of synthetic material are known, amongst others, from US 2002/0189183. Herein, reference is also made to the American patent application Ser. No. 09/152,684, which is granted under the U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,318, and wherein for the material, the use of PVC is stated. The panels represented in the document US 2002/0189183 are formed in a mold. This technique shows the disadvantage that it is expensive and that the production rate is low. Further, the panels obtained in this manner are subjected to tolerance deviations as a result of the fact that expansions may occur when removing the panels from the mold, as a consequence of which the coupling means possibly formed at the edges, when installing the panels, either are difficult to fit into each other, or are sitting too loosely in each other.
A first aim of the invention consists in offering solutions for coupling such panels of PVC, or of another supple synthetic material, to each other in an adequate manner, such by means of appropriate coupling parts.
Moreover, the invention in general also relates to a panel, in particular a floor panel, which, at least at two opposite edges, comprises coupling parts of the type allowing to couple two of such panels to each other by means of a downward movement of one panel in respect to the other, wherein these coupling parts form a first locking system, which effects a locking in the plane of the panels and perpendicularly to said edges, as well as form a second locking system, which effects a locking perpendicularly to the plane of the panels. A second aim of the invention consists in further optimizing panels of this type, such that the coupling parts offer new possibilities and, amongst others, also can be applied with panels of a supple material, more particularly said panels of soft PVC.